Toronto design firm Teehan+Lax closes, designers head to Facebook

Designers from the Toronto firm Teehan+Lax have decided to close the influential digital agency, move to San Francisco and join social media behemoth Facebook.

Teehan+Lax partners John Lax, Geoff Teehan and a handful of senior designers at the firm will go to Facebook, but it is only a talent acquisition, as Facebook is not buying the firm.

"Ultimately, the things we would get to do at Facebook, the people we would get to work with, the problems we get to solve were too compelling to say no to," said Lax.

Teehan+Lax was founded in 2002 and has become among Toronto's most successful digital design companies. The popular social network Medium, for instance, was designed in part by the firm. In its 12 years of operation, Teehan+Lax has worked on more than 600 projects.

"The opportunity to make things that will impact over a billion people is extraordinary," said Lax.

Lax, Teehan and partner David Gillis have written a lengthy post about the move on the company's website.

There were more than 40 employees at the firm's Liberty Village offices at the time of the announcement. According to reports, many of employees that were not invited to go to Facebook will lose their jobs.